First ever kiss between interracial couple on South African soap opera heavily slammed by viewers
The first interracial kiss on one of South Africa's most popular TV shows was heavily slammed by viewers, and the two actors who took part in it were stunned after receiving hundreds of verbal abuse messages online.
Viewers of the SABC2 soap opera "7de Laan" were furious after they broadcasted the first interracial kiss that the show has ever had. However, instead of enticing their audience, they received a lot of racist comments and messages from their viewers.
Al die Falexa ondersteuners staan op asseblief ☝️
— 7de Laan (@Real7deLaan) January 15, 2019
All the Falexa supporters please stand up☝️
We've been waiting for this moment, can their relationship stay the course?#Falexa #7deLaan@carinanel88@Nicksoulworld pic.twitter.com/rh2pHy23Nu
In the show, Alexa, played by Carina Nel, and Fikani, played by Nicholas Nkuna, have been love interests for dozens of episodes. However, it was only in one of the most recent episodes that they finally shared a kiss.
After the episode aired on January 15, the actors ended up having their phones bursting with hate messages and threats on social media. Due to the intensity of these messages, the SABC2 network was forced to release a statement to condemn the "hate speech" that their staff and artists were receiving because of the episode they aired.
"I am not racist, but white with white and black with black…shittiest soap of the decade." a 7 de Laan viewer https://t.co/qX6MfkRXa3 pic.twitter.com/UbNGI3GVfU
— ZAlebs (@Zalebs) January 24, 2019
Die Falexas is maar min, baie min mense will kinders met Kroes hare en groteske gelaatstrekke hê.....feite.
— Piet Vorster (@PieterVorster9) January 21, 2019
#7delaan End this fikani and alexa saga give us back the vaness and xander(guy with the wet look)and beard my man saga that's true love.😁 @Real7deLaan
— Shane (@SDC732) January 11, 2019
On their Twitter account, they wrote:
"As much as we respect our viewers' right to voice their opinion, 7de Laan will not tolerate hate speech, racism or instigation of such narratives by any member of the public or media. We stand by out diverse story lines that tell stories of a real South Africa... it's our responsibility to show that art emulates life... showing that love knows no age gender or race."
The Afrikaans soap opera started airing in April 2000, and up until this month, they have never shown two characters of different races kissing. Now that they have, their hope was to break stigmas and stereotypes and show that love is love, regardless of race and ethnicity.
